On the road in the American West.
Writing, making videos and music, and having the adventure of a lifetime.

DRIFT

go somewhere

// on the road
Drone shot from the Driftin' music video, looking down on the Million Dollar Highway winding through the San Juan Mountains.
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June 8, 2026
Driftin'
On Substack now. Roads dispatches go two weeks before this site.
→ chasingthebutter.substack.com
 Aerial drone shot looking down a deep red-rock canyon at sunset from the North Rim, two vans parked at a campsite on the rim, golden aspens in the foreground.
May 24, 2026  ·  North Rim, Arizona
The Trail of Torture
Shannon departs on the canyon's hardest backpacking route. Trail of Torture leaves new holes in the sweatpants. New Instagram for Chasing the Butter. The sense that this is my time.
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 A dirt road cutting through a burned forest near the North Rim, blackened tree trunks lining both sides under a blue sky.
May 22, 2026  ·  North Rim, Arizona
The Burn Zone
Buffalo on the way in. Then the burn zone. The Grand Lodge is gone, both sides of the road scorched. Our campsite was spared. 10 nights, full setup. Last night: e-bike into the trails.
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 Layng standing shirtless at a North Rim campsite, ball cap and glasses on, the Grand Canyon stretching out behind him under a hazy sky.
May 23, 2026  ·  North Rim, Arizona
The Haydukers
Memorial Day brings the neighbors. Clay pigeons loaded with a man's father's ashes. Hayduke Trail hikers 600 miles in say we have the best view on the North Rim. Shannon leaves tomorrow. Five pounds of ground beef left.
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// interviews
Aerial drone shot looking down at Layng standing between solar panels beside his Sprinter van, San Juan Mountains, Colorado.
LAYNG: On Nomadic Life
Nine questions on life as a nomad in the American West. June 4, 2026 · Silverton, Colorado.
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// music
// hi-fi lonesome sound system
Hi-Fi Lonesome, Season Two
New music created in the spirit of 1960s country LPs.
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Driftin'
Hi-Fi Lonesome Sound System · 2026
A Quiet Fortune
Hi-Fi Lonesome Sound System · 2026
Let's Roll
Hi-Fi Lonesome Sound System · 2026
What a Time
Chasing the Butter · 2026
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// field guides
FIELD GUIDES
Interactive guides to the places and topics on the road. San Juan Mountains. Bonita Peak. Marmots. More on the way.
→ all guides
SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS
You're standing on the remains of the largest volcanic eruption Earth has seen in 440 million years. The geology, the rivers, the wildlife, the history of who named what and why.
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BONITA PEAK
In August 2015, the Animas River turned orange. What happened, what was already happening long before anyone noticed, and what it means if you're here today.
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MARMOTS
You saw one on the trail. It whistled and disappeared. Here's what it actually is, how it hibernates for 8 months, and why it may age only half as fast as the calendar suggests.
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// rabbit holes
RABBIT HOLES
Essays on intelligence, effort, creativity, and the practice of making things.
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 A glowing tablet displaying analytics data lies abandoned on a desert roadside at sunset, Monument Valley mesas silhouetted against an orange sky.
THE SAME PRESSURE
The algorithm is just the latest costume. On the pressure that never gives a command, the correction that always finds its way home, and what continuity actually means.
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 A man chopping wood outside a farmhouse, a steaming pot beside him
CHOP WOOD, CARRY WATER
On the two kinds of people you already know, and the singular pattern that explains the gap between them. It's not discipline. It's something simpler and harder to name.
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 Grocery store shelf
OPTIMIZED AGAINST YOU
Three essays on the gap between what the label implies and what's actually happening inside your body. Gum. Seed oils. Private equity. Systems that were never designed with you in mind.
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// games
GAMES
Word games, strategy games, party games. SIGNAL, REVERSI, PARKS, PEEING OR NOT PEEING, and more.
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